Nigeria 2020 bid round ends with 57 fields awarded

Nigeria concluded its 2020 marginal field bid round with the award of 57 fields to local companies on Monday.

The country’s Department of Petroleum Resources marked the licence awards with a ceremony attended by DPR head Sarki Auwalu.

Half of the 161 shortlisted firms were awarded interests, the DPR said. A.A. Rano, Shafa Exploration, Matrix Energy, and Vhelblerg Exploration were among the local players to pick up licences in the fields.

In June 2020, DPR launched the bid round, offering 57 fields encompassing a mix of on-land, swamp and shallow-water areas. Nigeria’s marginal fields typically produce from 4,000 to 30,000 boepd, with a lifespan of eight to 15 years. The bid round has the potential to greatly increase the contribution of marginal fields to Nigeria’s overall production, which today stands at 6%.

There are 183 fields classified as marginal in Nigeria today, representing 2.3 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. Nigeria’s Petroleum Act (1996) refers to marginal fields as those discovered but left undeveloped for more than 10 years.

The DPR set up an intensive vetting process for the 2020 bid round in order to avoid a repeat of the previous marginal fields round, which in 2003 saw 24 fields awarded, of which only 13 reached first oil and 11 were left undeveloped.